Happy Place
by horrorphile
Summary: Daryl opens up to Carol and tells her about his happy place.
**The Walking Dead owns all these characters and I am just borrowing them for a little while. This story is based on my wish list and is not linked to any spoiler.**

Happy Place

Daryl waited downstairs while Michonne fussed over Carol upstairs. The braided one had taken on the task of making sure that Carol visited Denise to be checked out and then Michonne had hustled Carol upstairs. Carol was back in her bedroom after a shower.

Carol had actually admitted to not being "good" today. Daryl knew she hadn't been good since she had been banished. He had been giving her space to heal but it seemed like she just kept drifting further from him and not healing. Maybe it was time for him to start using his tracker skills and find her. That what he had done today. Tracked her down from the clues she had left.

Daryl went upstairs and knocked on Carol's door. Michonne answered the door, "Denise gave her and pain pill. She needs to rest. Daryl, you can talk to her tomorrow."

He shook his head, "I'll stay with her until she falls asleep."

Michonne stared at him with endless dark eyes that could be merciless at times but tonight they were kind. "Come on in." She went out the door and Daryl closed it behind her. Carol was already in bed. Propped up by two pillows and the only light was from her bedside lamp. She looked pale and she didn't smile at him.

 _I'd better move fast or she is going to have me thrown out_. He sat down on the bed beside her, "This is so romantic. You wanta screw around?" _She'll either laugh or have me thrown in that jail cell that Morgan is working on._

She laughed, "Damn it, Daryl. I feel like shit and laughing makes my ribs hurt."

He could tell the pain pill was kicking in. She wasn't bothering with any disguises. He wished he could make it all better but he couldn't. He couldn't make her talk to him, but maybe for once he could be the one doing the talking.

"I was so scared today. Afraid that I couldn't find you and Maggie. Afraid I'd be too late." He watched her face as he spoke. She looked pissed. He kept going before she shut him down. "Couldn't get to my happy place."

Carol gave him a what the hell look, "Did you just say that you couldn't get to your happy place? You stoned? Rick said that the Saviors were growing pot."

"Naw, I ain't stoned. It's in that workbook that I got in Atlanta. You create in your mind a place that is calm and peaceful and when you get stressed you go there in your head."

She gave him a level look, "If I went to a happy place every time I got stressed? I'd be a full time resident". Carol sounded scornful but he could see a glint in her slightly drugged looking eyes. She went on, "What's you happy place look like?" Challenging him. Figuring he wouldn't talk about it. That he would let her push him out the door. _I'm on to you, my pretty_.

"It's a little farm on top of a hill."

"No, it isn't. It's a cabin in the middle of the woods." Carol smirked at him, "You could go hunting every day and never be bothered with people. I know you, Daryl Dixon."

"It's a little farm on top of a hill. There's an old farmhouse. A barn. Some outbuildings." He was on sure ground here. He knew his happy place. _Carol don't know me as well as she thinks she does_. "You start with a place and then you fill in details. You just imagine what you want to have in your happy place."

Carol regarded him thoughtfully or at least as thoughtfully as the pain pill would allow. "Tell me about it."

"It's just a little place. The house isn't big. All one story and painted white. The floors are wooden and the ceilings are high. Three bedrooms and a bath. The porch goes all around the front of the house and there is a swing on it. Behind the house is an orchard. Apples and pears. Berries and grapes. There is a big garden and fields of oats and rye. There's a cow for milk." _It didn't sound as good as it was_. "There's a big yard around the place. Flowers and trees. It's pretty." _That sounds a little desperate._

"Tell me about the house." She sounded more peaceful and a little loopy.

"The kitchen isn't like the one here. There's a wooden counter and almost everything in it is old. It smells good though. There are books on the shelves in the living room. There's a long couch and comfortable chairs. A wood stove in the fireplace. There's a fireplace in the bedroom bed has four posters and a patchwork quilt."

"It must be nice. Your happy place." Carol was staring at the ceiling. _She's going away from me._

 _No guts, no glory._ "It ain't just my happy place. You live there too."

She dragged her eyes from the fascinating ceiling and managed to make eye contact with him, "Stop trying to rescue me. Go back to your happy place."

"It's only a happy place when you are there with me." _I am handing you my heart on a damn platter. Can't you see how much I love you._ "It ain't no made up place. I found it one day when I was out hunting. Not far. Just four or five miles from Alexandria. Guess the people who lived there got evacuated. We could live there. You and me. Someday." _Her hands are clutching the covers and she is staring at me like I'm effing nuts."_

I get up early and do chores. You have breakfast ready when I've finished. We eat together and then we spend part of the morning working together on whatever needs done. Then I go out to the fields and you do something in the house. I'm always close by. We eat dinner in the middle of the afternoon and then do the dishes together. We might go visit our friends in Alexandria this afternoon or maybe they're come out here. Judith and Hershel playing in the yard. You and the other women on the porch watching over them. I'm out showing off my fields to Rick and Glenn. Carl and Enid have disappeared somewhere. Probably the hayloft."

She was smiling faintly now as if she were imagining herself hanging out on the porch watching children play in their yard. He went on, "They go home before dark and then you and me take our last walk around the place. The first stars are coming out when we get back to the house and we sit on the swing while the night settles around us. There's a thunderstorm brewing and we go inside and get ready for bed. The rain hits just as we lay down on the bed and we listen to the sound it makes on the metal roof."

"We kiss like it's the first time. Like it's going to be special. Like we want to remember every kiss and touch. Like it's making love and not just having sex. We sleep easy because tomorrow is going to be another happy day."

Carol's eyes were nearly closed, "I'm not going to remember this tomorrow. I just wish that I could dream this tonight. It would be such a nice dream that I wouldn't want to wake up."

"You left me signs today so I could track you. I'm telling you this so that when you are ready you can find me. I think you'll remember part of it. Maybe enough to talk to me?" He bent and kissed her hands.

Carol put her hands in his hair and tugged not too gently. "Kiss me like it's the first time and like you love me."

He kissed her slowly but thoroughly. _Please remember this because I'm never going to forget the feel of your lips and the smell of your hair._ "Go to sleep now. I'll wait until you go to sleep."

"Stay with me until morning. Just want to know that you are there." Her eyes were closed and in a few heartbeats she was asleep.

Daryl left before Carol woke up. She was still sleeping peacefully when he left her. Michonne and Rick were in the kitchen eating breakfast. "Carol's still asleep. I've got a run with Rosita and Denise today for medicine."

Rick answered, "We'll watch over her. She and Maggie don't need to go back out there for a while."

Daryl had to leave before Carol woke up. He gave a shout out to the Universe to keep her safe until he could get back.

AN

 **The last few spoilers have taken me away from my happy place. Hope you liked this little snippet.**

 **My head canon is that Daryl doesn't want to live in a cabin all by himself. He might still hunt from time to time but he is too connected to his family to want to be alone.**

 **Caryl on.**

 **Did reading this take you to a happier place?**


End file.
